go ahead, call me crazy !

[dave campbell]

no real news today---except........

ALUMINUM SHEETS HAVE BEEN DELIVERED !! now if the rain will let up i can get outside with the ram-board and start templating. some up and coming things-----
1: more cage prep is needed for things such as brake light mounts, and possible bumper mounts
2: make a decision on how the aluminum skin will wrap under the base. also---how to keep road-water from creeping up, all around the perimeter

here's the TV. i needed to clear the driveway for the aluminum delivery. suffering from size-envy at the time i took this photo. i was wishing that i went for 15' instead of 12'6, but the wife says it's perfect the way it is. plus it's not the size that counts--it's how you use it

in tow.JPG (51.77 KiB) Viewed 2691 times

[Irmo Atomics]

Looking good, Dave... for the floor perimeter, I've used aluminum drip edge (like you use on roofs at the facia board).

[dave campbell]

Looking good, Dave... for the floor perimeter, I've used aluminum drip edge (like you use on roofs at the facia board).

thanks irmo ! drip edge may be the way to go, but i still need to decide how to finish the bottom portion of the skin. if you check out the photo of the original, it sort of rolls under a ways at the bottom 6-8 inches. i'm still contemplating if i want to do that or come to a hard stop at the floor line .....
you can see that the change in wall angle occurs above the floor level in those photos, and i did not allow for that with my cage design....so i would have to make the angle change at the floor level which will change the look of the door and perhaps make the trailer look a little taller. i'm not sure if i will like the proportions. paper template first .......

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[KCStudly]

I think you will be okay squaring off the bottom of the door for simplicity's sake, but the overall cabin will look much better with at least some roll under the floor. Worth the extra effort IMO.

Truth? Even if you just cut off at the bottom of the floor square, what you have accomplished and how it will look is and will still be awesome. You can't go wrong at this point.

[dales133]

I agree rolling under the floor will look so much better. I wouldnt consider doing it differently.
Put it this way, my build has things I'm not willing to compromise on but if i don't have the time to learn the skill or the equipment so ill farm it out.
I'd be paying someone to do the sill section before I made it square if I was you
It will make or break the build.
Door sill horizontal with curved corners should look fine

[dave campbell]

well then ----the roll it unders have spoken. the wife wants that too, and i was waffling so i will join the crowd.

here we go with the templates. the bottom panels will have an additional 5" or so hanging below the floor line to accommodate the roll under---the logistics and mounting of which i can figure out later. the ram board isn't quite as resilient as i thought it would be, but it gives us a great indication of what could go wrong when we get to the metal phase. too big a piece ? doesn't sit well. too tight a fit ? high points of the cage ghost through. too loose a fit ? that would just snowball in a bad way. there really is a very small window of placement that we need to stay in, in order to keep this going as symmetrically as possible. maintaining adequate sheet overlap is also important. originally i thought the lines of the cage would translate directly to the seams between the aluminum skin, but now we will be avoiding that, as there were problems with how the larger pieces sit. also aesthetically it really will look nice if the pieces get slimmer as they get closer to the top.

tmplate 2.JPG (47.24 KiB) Viewed 2581 times

on the inside--- strategically placed shims will ensure that the skin curves as organically as possible. hopefully we stay away from a faceted appearance.
even thought the cage is not perfectly matched left to right, we can mask this by using the same template pieces for each side and adjusting the seam allowances to achieve a better balance

template 1.JPG (54.48 KiB) Viewed 2581 times

[dave campbell]

a side note----another good reason for the thinner pieces of siding is---better use of materials. the original trailer has some bigger chunks on it, which are nice, but i don't think i can achieve the same quality with out using easier to handle pieces. we may have a lower scrap rate with smaller pieces.

[dales133]

Cool your making good headway,cant wait to see the skin go on

[KCStudly]

I'm thinking that you can't put off the bottom curl too long, since that is the starter piece of the shingle puzzle, isn't it?

You know the bodywork on the early Ferrari's were hammer formed on oak stumps.

[dave campbell]

I'm thinking that you can't put off the bottom curl too long, since that is the starter piece of the shingle puzzle, isn't it?

You know the bodywork on the early Ferrari's were hammer formed on oak stumps.

wellll..... my thoughts are that if i leave it overhanging, then i can continue with the rest of the wrap, then come back to solving this problem later. being 'not a different piece', i can decide down the road what kind of curve it will have, and how i will execute......fingers crossed but my gut says "keep going!" and i do trust my gut.

here's how the day went......

my options for cutting the skin were as follows----
1: jigsaw----don't even bother
2: tinsnips----nice and quiet but not the best cut----in the photo below you can see the wavy edge----this is the snips leaving their mark. on a smaller scale the same thing was happening. serrated edge and a waviness that was undesirable
3: grinder with a zip wheel---absolutely the best cut. the plastic film did not even have a chance to melt, and the sheet stayed flat instead of getting the wavy effect. plus alot quicker

snipped skin.JPG (29.7 KiB) Viewed 2518 times

below you can see two sheets in place. i did a bit of a rush job on the cut-out phase---knowing that i would be re-touching this edge later. the green tape is the new cutting guide

skin retrim3.JPG (44.11 KiB) Viewed 2518 times

first i used string to give me a nice flowing line to work with--then masking tape so i could remove the piece and clean it up to the tape line. zipped it to the line, then sanded

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[dave campbell]

here we see the piece dialed in and ready for the next fitting

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the aluminum flows quite nicely over the lumps and bumps of the cage (so far !)

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some silver !!

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[lfhoward]

Really impressed with your ambitious build! Not crazy, just ambitious. I think it is coming together nicely.

Your art deco trailer design and the original inspiration for it are way cool. They bring to mind a unique concept vehicle from the 1930's called the Stout Scarab. I remember seeing something about that a few weeks ago in the Detroit Free Press.

Here's the article. http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2015/08/21/stout-scarab-detroit-historical-museum/32068559/

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing how the build shapes up now that you are skinning it.

[OP827]

Nice work Dave! Your best choice of the cutting method, you did not mention #3 was the quiet by some reason, lol.
I did Random Orbit sander sanding of my big roof panel and oh boy was it loud, I guess a whole neighborhood community now knows I am doing something big. All the best!

[dave campbell]

Nice work Dave! Your best choice of the cutting method, you did not mention #3 was the quiet by some reason, lol.
I did Random Orbit sander sanding of my big roof panel and oh boy was it loud, I guess a whole neighborhood community now knows I am doing something big. All the best!

must've forgotten at least it's quick---plus i can do it way in the back yard where there are more sound baffles like trees and shop walls

slow going these days---doing a pretty intense tile job. lots of floors, steam shower, etc....i get home fairly beat up and no desire to do much in the chilly evening light.
but........the rivets arrived today and have rekindled my fire. they have a lot smaller head than i had imagined, and have a golden hue rather than silver, but i will grow to like them

oops wrong line ! gonna have to trim this piece down again

first rivet holes.JPG (12.13 KiB) Viewed 2480 times

ok these things are COOL !

ready to rivet 1.JPG (11.31 KiB) Viewed 2480 times

three different shaft lengths--depending on how many layers are lapping

rivets.JPG (30.54 KiB) Viewed 2480 times

[dave campbell]

Really impressed with your ambitious build! Not crazy, just ambitious. I think it is coming together nicely.

Your art deco trailer design and the original inspiration for it are way cool. They bring to mind a unique concept vehicle from the 1930's called the Stout Scarab. I remember seeing something about that a few weeks ago in the Detroit Free Press.

Here's the article. http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2015/08/21/stout-scarab-detroit-historical-museum/32068559/

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing how the build shapes up now that you are skinning it.

hey thanks a lot !! i checked out the stout scarab---not a pretty car, but loaded with style !